Present day play gyms and swing sets come equipped with various different types of swing rides. The most common type consists simply of a flexible or rigid seat suspended from an overhead support by chains or other flexible hangers. There also exists so-called glide rides which comprise an elongated seating platform suspended from the overhead support by a pair of parallel rigid hangers pivotally connected to the platform at spaced apart locations thereon so as to form a planagram. When a pair of children sitting on opposite ends of the platform swing back and forth, the platform tends to remain more or less horizontal for small excursions of the swing. Therefore, the swing is quite safe and easy to use even by small children.
A variant of this type of swing, disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 5,326,326, supports the seating platform by way of a pair of rockers pivoted to opposite ends of the platform and suspended from the overhead support by flexible hangers. This arrangement permits the children to manipulate the rockers to effect the motion of the swing. However, the motion of the seating platform and the children thereon is still confined to the usual back and forth motion. Therefore, some children may tend to loose interest in the swing after a relatively short time.